Helloâș I have an ADHD diagnosis from a psychiatrist, but my university won't accept her diagnosis to accommodate me. Instead, it requires extensive testing (which costs $2000!!) to consider accommodations. Might I have a legal case in combating this?
Disclaimer, Iâm not an attorney and have no legal training.... but my dad was so Iâve interacted with a lot of lawyers and have pursued litigation before. Honestly it would likely cost you more to pursue litigation than get retested by a psychologist. Universities have extensive monetary resources and could turn your case into a war of attrition. You can use student loans or grants to pay for testing as it is an educational cost, just like buying a laptop or assistive technology. I had a similar experience when I moved to the US and transferred to a giant state uni. Though they accepted my diagnosis, they couldnât offer me all of the accommodations I requested without further testing. This is because a lot of psychiatrists only ask a short questionnaire, get parent testimonials, and use sometimes school records to make a diagnosis... obviously alongside the DSMV. Psychiatrists just practice differently than psychologists. Though some do use the same tests that psychologists use. Contact your psychiatrist and see if they have records of what was used for the diagnosis, your uni may accept it. The tests that psychologists use are extensive, mine took over 10 hours if I recall. I chose to do mine in one day, but often they are broken up into multiple days. They usually test for other disabilities as well due to high symptom overlap with other disabilities and high comorbidity. I had them also test for dyscalculia.
If you decide to get retested, pick someone outside the uni if possible but make sure the uni will accept their testing. Often universities will have a list of practices they accept testing from or have gotten testing from in the past. Speak with the psychologist, have a phone meeting or in-person meeting to discuss the testing first. Itâs okay to shop around. You can bring your support system with you to check them out. Stay clear of anyone that doesnât like psychiatrists or has an agenda about undermining psychiatrists. They compete for patients, and some of them are weird about it. You need to be able to trust this person and feel comfortable with them, just like you would a psychiatrist. Bring all of your school records (grades, progress reports, and anything disability related) with you to the testing, call your old district and they can mail records to you. Dont take your medication when tested, otherwise it wonât provide a good base line of your attention and executive function. Also donât tell them if you have ever smoked pot or they will flip out and parrot bad outdated research (every field has their pitfalls, study replication and data analysis is theirs lol) and will mention it in the results. Getting retested can be really emotional. I had a total crisis of identity, the thoughts of âwhat if Iâm just lazy?â etc all came back from prediagnosis. I had been diagnosed for a long time when I was retested. Be prepared for how getting retested makes you feel, talk to someone you trust about it. Itâs okay to be anxious about your results, and itâs okay to tell the psychologist that itâs causing some anxiety for you. Also, do not try to fake anything on the test, even if you are nervous about the result. There is a test they use to check if you are faking anything (itâs where you remember pictures after they show you them on cards, people with severe TBI pass it). I hope this helped! Feel free to DM me if you have more personal questions and donât want others to read them! (:
